False Memories Strange Memories Unpleasant Memories and Amnesia

Esther’s writing prompt: February 18 : Memories

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Image showing a disintegrating brain.
I had what is called post traumatic amnesia, which fortunately is temporary. Shutterstock ID: 1685660680 by MattL_Images

I have false memories, memories of things I know never happened. Not too long ago I made a post on my other blog about false memories and collective false memories, referred to as the Mandela Effect. You can read about that here. In addition to false memories I have memories that are strange, but that I know happened. I also have gaps, or holes in my memory. Memories that are lost to amnesia.

It all goes back to a ski accident that I had at the age of 22. We were a group of youngsters who rented a bus and drove from Sweden to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria in Germany. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a beautiful Bavarian town, and it is one of the most famous German ski resorts. Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain is nearby Garmisch-Partenkirchen providing for an impressive scenery.

Mountains in the background. The town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the foreground.
The town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Photo by op23 on Pexels.com

I love skiing and I challenged myself by skiing fast and selecting difficult slopes but on one of the days I made a very bad decision. I have no memories of what follows in this paragraph. It is what I have been told. There was a steep double black diamond slope with a sign stating that the conditions were dangerous and not to go down this slope. I did it anyway, and I fell badly, hit my head (I had no helmet), and I got a severe shoulder displacement. My arm was hanging on my back. I went looking for my skis and I tried to put them back on to continue skiing, but some Germans came down to stop me.

An ambulance was called, and they sent snowmobiles to pick me up. However, the snowmobiles were unable to get there, so they used a pist-machine to pick me up instead. On the way down I discovered my shoulder displacement several times. I was equally shocked every time. That’s how they knew that my short term memory was gone. I also had no pain sensation.

Photo of Zugspitze.
Zugspitze Germany’s highest mountain. Photo by Oskar Gross on Pexels.com
Me standing in the ski slope in Breckenridge leaning on a sign that says “Caution”
This is me in the ski slope when I was young. This is not Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it is Breckenridge, Colorado, but I don’t have any photos of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Amnesia

The next few days after the accident I suffered from amnesia. I did not remember where I was or my friends. I should say I still remembered my name. The first 2-3 days after the accident are essentially gone. However, I remember my friends coming into my room asking me questions such as “what’s my name?”, “do you remember me?”, “do you know where we are?”. The leader of the trip was devastated, and she was allegedly crying all day. You can say that I ruined the trip for everyone.

False Memories

On the way down to Germany, at the German border we changed out our studded tires because studded tires are not allowed on the autobahn. As my memories started to return on the third day after the accident my friends asked me what happened at the German border. I told them that we had studded tires (that part was correct) and that we all took pliers and removed the studs (that part was false). The funny thing is, to this day I remember us walking around the bus with pliers and removing studs. However, I know this never happened. How did that false memory get implanted in my head?

Strange Memories

I also have some strange memories from that trip that according to my friends happened. We stayed at a youth hostel. It was nice but it had a strange feature. There were loudspeakers in all the hallways. At 10:00PM on our first evening at the youth hostel the loudspeakers came on and someone started shouting in German “Achtung! Achtung! All guests must now wash their faces and brush their teeth and the lights started dimming and women and men had to go to their quarters. Music is forbidden. The loudspeaker came on every now and then barking orders at us in German and all windows and doors were locked electronically. Being from Sweden we followed orders, but we were laughing about it.

Suddenly new voices started shouting in the loudspeaker. It was younger sounding voices. It was still in German but this time we were told to rebel against the hotel management, we were told to refuse to go to bed, and they started singing fighting songs in German. Then, suddenly the loudspeakers went quiet. The hotel management was back. We all had to go to bed. It sounds like a false memory, but this one is real. Well, it was budget lodging after all.

Unpleasant Memories of Statistical Mechanics

Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics.
The epic opening of the first paragraph in David L. Goodstein’s States of Matter, a textbook on Statistical Mechanics.

The epic opening above from the textbook says : Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics.

One day I found a book on Statistical Mechanics under my bed, and some very unpleasant memories came back to me. I had a final exam in Statistical Mechanics after our vacation. Statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities.

More specifically, you do statistical calculations over large sets of atoms and molecules to figure out the macro condition of the corresponding gas or material. For example, temperature corresponds to the average kinetic energy of atoms, and entropy refers to the logarithm of the number of microstates compatible with the system’s measurable macroscopic state, often loosely referred to as the disorder of the system. Statistical Mechanics includes classical Statistical Mechanics as well as its Quantum Mechanical counterpart, which is a lot more abstract and complicated.

Picture showing molecules of various sizes moving fast.
In 1905 Albert Einstein proved the existence of molecules and atoms using statistics and an observed phenomenon called Brownian motion. Shutterstock ID: 2334052703

Once I was back in Sweden, I went to see my professor, and I explained the situation to him: “hello professor, I had a ski accident, hit my head, and I lost my memory. My amnesia made me forget statistical mechanics.”. He could also see that my left arm was in a cast. I said, “could I take the exam a little later?” He asked me “are you right-handed or left-handed?” I said, “I am right-handed”. The professor answered, “well then you take the exam on time like everybody else”. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear but I took it, and I passed but not with flying colors.

It may seem like my professor was a bit harsh. However, I was later thinking that maybe he had a lot of students coming into his office claiming head injuries with amnesia. It was after all a final exam in statistical mechanics.

My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

43 thoughts on “False Memories Strange Memories Unpleasant Memories and Amnesia”

  1. Wow! That’s quite an awful odyssey! Today, a professor refusing to allow a student extra time after an accident would be in a lot of trouble! Usually proof is required such as medical confirmation, but still. Thanks for sharing your experience with this, Thomas.

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    1. I thought my professor was a bit harsh too, but I think that there were a lot of people trying to get out of the exam and he was tired of it and he may not have believed my amnesia story. However, he saw my cast and I believe I had a doctors note too.

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        1. I admit I was surprised by his response. However, I took the exam and I passed it even though 2/3 of the class failed. In the end I did not complain. Everyone was scared of this exam, which is why I think he might have heard a lot of excuses. Both Ludwig Boltzmann and Paul Ehrenfest, the leading scientists in the field, committed suicide. There’s a reason for it.

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words, Esther and thank you for doing the prompt. The Mandela effect is even more fascinating. When lots of people have the same false memory. That is often caused by a celebrity stating something false or media misreporting something and then people replacing their original memory with the false information. The concept comes from that a journalist discovered that so many people believed that Nelson Mandela died in prison, which never happened. That included herself. The journalist swear the she remembered his funeral and the press releases and everything even though it was fantasy. She was surprised to find out that she could not trust her own memory and she created the term. Our memory is less reliable than we think.

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    1. Thank you so much Luisa. About the Mandela effect it comes from a journalist who discovered that so many people believed that Nelson Mandela died in prison, which never happened. That included herself. The journalist swore that she remembered his funeral and the press releases and everything even though it was fantasy. She was surprised to find out that she could not trust her own memory and she created the term. Our memory is less reliable than we think.

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  4. What an interesting topic. I suppose we all have false memories of one kind or another. I remember reminiscing with a long-time girlfriend about our days playing violin in Middle School and she said, “That wasn’t me.” To this day, I think she’s wrong!

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    1. Ha ha it would be interesting to find whose memory is failing. False memories and lost memories happens more often with conditions, amnesia, old age, etc., but it happens to everybody. Our memory is less reliable than we think.

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  5. Java Bean: “Ayyy, the professor must’ve been like, ‘If I had a krona for every time some kid came in and claimed they had amnesia …'”Lulu: “Our Dada has a gap in his memory from the day of The Event until the next day when he woke up in ICU, but it sounds like your incident caused more memory problems than that did!”

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    1. Ha ha I think you are right Java Bean and I am impressed you knew that the Swedish currency is krona / kronor. I have a feeling my professor may not have believed me. Lulu, what happened to your Dada was very traumatic. My guess is that his lost memory was the least of his concern. It was a lot more dangerous than what happened to me.

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  6. I hope you wear a helmet now. I have false memories based on pictures from my childhood. I know they aren’t correct, but whenever I see certain pictures, these false memories come to the surface. The brain is an interesting organ isn’t it? Maggie

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    1. Yes you are right Maggie. I’ve read that old pictures and stories can trigger ideas that may partially be based on memories but maybe not, and they will live on as memories even though they are false. What you really remember is what you imagined happened when you saw the picture the first time. It happens to all of us. As for me wearing a helmet. I did not wear one for decades after this but my wife insisted strongly that I do, so now I wear one when I ski.

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    1. Thank you so much John. You probably had the same type of amnesia that I did, post traumatic amnesia. It last from a few hours up to a few months but you get most of your memory back. If the amnesia is from severe brain damage it is more complicated and it may never come back.

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  9. I had a sinus surgery right before moving about 35 years ago. I couldn’t reschedule the surgery or the moving. I had no memory of how we left the old house and how we got to the new house. My friend who helped said I went into the new house, sat on the stairs and blacked out.

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  10. What a frightening experience, Thomas! And the amnesia must have been disturbing. Very uncharitible of your professor to deny you an extension! False memories are intriguing and likely something we all have.

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    1. The amnesia was probably worse for my friends. I did not know what was going on until afterwards. My professor was indeed not very charitable but he might have had a lot of students trying to get out of the exam using various excuses including maybe amnesia. And you are right, the magazine psychology today claim that false memories happen to all of us. It is very common. More common as you age or have accidents but still common for all of us.

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  12. HI Thomas, your comments about the mathematics professor are amusing. I am sure lecturers hear every excuse under the sun to get out of examinations. I recall your story about the ski accident and the amnesia. You added some interesting new information here about the false memories. The loudspeaker incident in the hostel is very funny.

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    1. Thank you so much Robbie. Yes I had a feeling he simply did not believe me, just thinking I came up with a creative excuse. We were laughing really hard at the loud speaker incident and it turns out I was not hallucinating as I was with the pliers on the studs.

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              1. The amount of sick leave taken where I work is appalling. The lady who works with me takes time off before every deadline and I get landed with taking over. It is one of the reasons I’ve resigned. People like me have to keep picking up all the slack for other people.

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                1. That is terrible. Here in the US companies typically have limited sick leave. For example, at Siemens where I worked I had 5 weeks per year that could be taken as vacation or sick leave. You could pay for it youself and get more that way. But there was no unlimited sick leave. In Sweden there was essentially unlimited sick leave but people didn’t abuse it. The people who overuse it don’t realize that it can backfire. I am sorry you had to put up with that.

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